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The Scenario

Singaboria -- a republic of which the national pastime is musical theatre.

The Empire of Ostlandia -- A constitutional monarchy which excels in wine-growing and the cut flower trade.

These two proud rival nations are doomed to come to blows over insults and trade frustrations that might seem trivial to a foreigner.


May 19th 1941
Jenkins, a Singaborian merchant captain in the coasting trade, is arrested for allegedly importing India Pale Ale without tariff payment, into the remote Ostlandian island of North Uist.

The Imperial government claims this violates trade regulations on alcoholic beverages. In reality, the tariffs are merely a ploy to preserve the Ostlandian wine trade, dominated by the leading noble families.

June 25th
Affronted by this insult to free trade, Singaboria breaks off diplomatic relations on June 25th.

June 30th
Ostlandia mobilises naval reserves. Both nations have powerful navies.

With a diplomatic solution no longer possible, the world awaits the opening salvoes in the War of Jenkins’ Beer.

This is great, KK- I've never even entered this subforum before!

Subbed! I must echo RiTides as I have never been here before! Consider me subbed!

I used to do WWII-based naval games in college. Its great fun! Subbed.

I've never posted in this sub-forum before...
Hopefully i won't disappoint my team.

I doth agree with my esteemed peerage.

Tis' a new adventurous setting for us to extoll and thrive upon in a gentlemanly and dignified matter.

Just let me get my destroyers in range of an Ostlandian battleship, and I'll give her the 'ol "21-torpedo Salute!".

I am working on getting my ports in shape, running drills and increasing efficiency. Although I am kind of sad that the cut flowers may have to take a back seat to munitions.

For the Monarch (may he die a horrible death!) We will play you a jolly tune as you die.

Now that's just rude.

I have just sent out the starting positions and the basic unit information.

Hopefully we can get to the first turn at the weekend.

If anyone has a question of a general nature please post it here, so the answers will be easily available to everyone.

If you have a question of a secret nature, send it to me by email.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Weather

Weather ranges from calm up to hurricane. This will affect movement, combat and flying in several ways.

A hurricane may cause damage to ships and airplanes.

Submarines are immune to weather effects as long as they remain submerged, however they will not be able to make any sightings or attacks.

The weather will be the same for the whole area for the whole day and night. Bear in mind that “the same” weather can vary locally, e.g. squalls and patchy cloud.

Forecasts are prepared by the ComSub officers. (In other words, I will generate weather and give them the info to pass on.) There will be a forecast for the next day and a long range forecast for the following week.

In general the weather should be good to moderate over half the time.



Sighting

Theoretical sighting distances are as follows:

Submarine conning tower -- 5 miles
Ship bridge -- 25 miles
Airplanes -- 100 miles

In reality, sighting distances will often be greatly reduced by atmospheric effects and darkness. Therefore it is important to screen vulnerable units to prevent enemies from getting close while unobserved.

Any progress on the more detailed/gridded map.

d-usa wrote:Any progress on the more detailed/gridded map.

I echo this sentiment despite it originating from the upstart nation of Singaboria

The gridded map will be finished on Monday. I can't scan it this week because I don't have an A3 scanner.

In the meantime you can still plan movement using bearings and distances, as well as general orders. E.g. Patrol up to 50nm outside port X.

Weather forecast for the first turn.


1st July 1941

Today’s weather -- Moderate seas, some cloud, no rain, good weather for flying. Visibility max 25nm.

Tomorrow’s weather -- Light seas, patchy cloud, no rain, good weather for flying. Visibility max 25nm.

Forecast Days 3 to 6
Continuing dry with some cloud, light to moderate seas and good visibility.

How to Give Movement and Combat Orders

Remember that the game is strategic/operational level, so you are not required to give detailed orders.

The captains and pilots of your units are fully trained and have the initiative to make tactical decisions by themselves. For example, they will not blindly carry out an order that takes them beyond their fuel limit. Also, depending on type, they will attack, shadow or evade enemy units automatically.

Most of the time you can leave units to operate by themselves within the context of your general plan.

In case of a major action which will require extra decision making on your part, I will freeze the action to allow you to make a plan for the battle.


Movement

The easiest way to give movement orders is to specify the map grid squares though which you want your unit to move. Obviously you can’t do that until the high quality map is available, but that won’t be long.

In the meantime here are other ways you can give movement orders. These will still be valid after the grid is available.

Give a direction (360 degree compass course), cruising speed and number of hours of cruising.

Example: Task force A: cruise 72 degrees, 15kt, 10 hours, then 120 degrees, 10kt, 14 hours.

Give a destination.

Example: Task force B: cruise to Port X at speed of 15 kt. Zigzag.

You could also mark a location on the map -- a strait or point, for instance -- and give the force orders to cruise to there, then cruise on to a different point.

If you want your ships to zig-zag, make this part of the movement order. Rate of advance will be halved but they will have a bonus against submarines.

Destroyers and Corvettes are assumed to be zig-zagging all the time, as their duties include anti-submarine patrols. That is why their range is half that of other units.


General Patrolling Orders

Any unit can be given orders to patrol within a general area around a point (port, ship or sea area).

Example: Corvette Dandelion to patrol approaches to Port X out to 50nm radius.

Example: Flying Boat no.1 to patrol 200nm around Task Force G.




What units can be given an order?

The following are units and can be given orders.

1. A single ship of any type that has been detached for solo service.
2. A group of any number of ships cruising as a flotilla or convoy. If it contains ships from two different commands, for example, heavy units cruising with destroyer escort, then either both commanders must issue identical orders or one of them must issue orders to take the movement orders from the other.
3. A flying boat or seaplane.
4. Submarines.
5. A half-squadron of aircraft (i.e. six aircraft of the same type)
6. A formation of aircraft (any number of half squadrons of any type). They will fly at the speed of the slowest type.
7. Seaplanes and flying boats may also be grouped (with the same type) if desired. This will give a better chance of spotting enemies in the area.



Important Safety Points

Ships moving within 25nm of land have a chance of being observed by civilians (coastguards, fishing boats, lighthouses, civilian aircraft, etc.)

Ships and submarines that touch the “coast” are at hazard of grounding or worse. The coastline on the map represents shoal areas as well as physical cliff and beach.

Ships and submarines may not move across the coastline!

Aircraft may move over the coastline. There is a chance they may be observed by sky watchers, concerned members of the public, etc.



On Finding The Enemy

Units will generally decide for themselves what to do if they find an enemy, depending on their type and their perception of the ratio of forces. Basically they will either attack, or shadow, or evade.

Shadowing means the unit will try and stay in contact with the enemy and avoid being attacked itself.

An attack will be appropriate for the circumstances. For example, a flying boat will strafe and drop depth charges on a submarine, but it won’t strafe a ship with significant AA.

AV and carriers evade from any enemies.

SS will usually attack, if they are in a good position to do so, even if outnumbered. They will attempt to shadow if they cannot attack, though their low submerged speed

CL and DD will attack if in a good position, or will shadow.

K will attack submarines, or inferior numbers of K, and shadow AV, unless in company with AV of their own in which case they will evade. They will always evade main fleet units.

Heavy units will attack, unless badly outnumbered. They will evade from submarines.

CL and DD will attack submarines. If a large force meets a submarine, one or two DD will be detached to suppress it. They will steam at high speed to catch up the main body. You can order them to keep company if you like, to avoid them detaching.

When are our first orders due?

If everyone is ready, then this Sunday evening.

If people need more time, or want to wait for the gridded map, we can wait a bit.

I think I would be ready by then, although I cannot speak for anybody else. I'm just chilling in my port, guarding our ships.

Some people want to wait for the gridded map, so the first turn won't be until next week.

Grids are for pansies, just aim your ship in a direction and arm the guns!

d-usa wrote:Grids are for pansies, just aim your ship in a direction and arm the guns!

If you want to fight that way we'll be more than willing to help your sailors and pilots out of the water once we've sunk your fleet.
They'll get a blanket, some soup and we'll sing them a rousing chorus of 'Rule Ostlandia' to keep their spirits up...

purplefood wrote:

d-usa wrote:Grids are for pansies, just aim your ship in a direction and arm the guns!

If you want to fight that way we'll be more than willing to help your sailors and pilots out of the water once we've sunk your fleet.
They'll get a blanket, some soup and we'll sing them a rousing chorus of 'Rule Ostlandia' to keep their spirits up...

Right before the Singaborian airforce turns your ships into very nice coral reefs.

WarOne wrote:

purplefood wrote:

d-usa wrote:Grids are for pansies, just aim your ship in a direction and arm the guns!

If you want to fight that way we'll be more than willing to help your sailors and pilots out of the water once we've sunk your fleet.
They'll get a blanket, some soup and we'll sing them a rousing chorus of 'Rule Ostlandia' to keep their spirits up...

Right before the Singaborian airforce tries to turn your ships into very nice coral reefs.

Fixed that for you WarOne

I have not finished the map grid today -- Sorry!

Will finish and email tomorrow.

Take your time, KK, but I'm looking forward to it

You should all have received the map in gridded and ungridded formats.

Please note the following rules:

1. Units which sail off the edges will be interned by neutral powers.

2. In any case of positional discrepancy between your reckoning and the umpire's, my map will be considered correct. Differences can be ascribed to faulty navigation, etc.


Now, a note on unit ranges.

As previously mentioned, the “range” given for a unit is its straight line cruising distance at the given speed. The operational radius is of course half that.

For various reasons, units rarely manage in real life to reach their theoretical performance. These reasons include heavy seas, headwinds, inefficient equipment, unexpected course corrections, and so on.

Ship (and submarine) captains will warn you if their fuel is getting low. You normally shouldn’t worry about sending them too far as they will ask for permission to turn back in good time.

Pilots of airplanes find it harder to track fuel consumption. Aircraft need reserve fuel to get to altitude and formate, to find their base -- which may move during their cruise -- and to queue for landing. Extra fuel will also be used during combat manoeuvres, especially for fighters.

Therefore it is sensible to allow at least a 10% reserve of fuel on any mission, and you may want to allow 20% or even more for an adequate safety margin.

So now with the gridded map in place, our orders are due by this Sunday?

Saturday night which means I in the UK should receive even US based players's submissions on Sunday morning.

If there are any points that are not clear I will be happy to clarify.

The game is "developmental" based around principles such as Sprawling Wargames (Paddy Griffith), and this is the first go so I am open to making adjustments as we go along.

Is there a key of Singabordia city names on the map that I'm just not seeing? I have the Ostlandia city names, but it just seems so...inhuman...to order my battleships to shell "Singabordia city #2."

But we get to say "make it so, Number 2."